What I Learned from Our Backyard Tent Camping Test Run – part 2

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May 31, 2010 by Donna Carol · 6 Comments

In case your just joining me, here is a review of part 1 of the things I learned from our test run: Always check the weather forecast. This one is self-explanatory. A “surprise” thunderstorm caused us to postpone our test run by one day because I didn’t do a last minute check of the weather. Even tents that are zipped up can leak. I had no idea this could happen, and our son ended up sleeping in a puddle of water. Our tent is too small. We found this out pretty quickly when we got the air mattresses blown up. The day after I posted this we bought an 8- person tent, so this problem is hopefully solved. Now that you are up to speed, here is part 2. Cheap air mattresses don’t last very long. I remembered Dennis telling me the day after the thunderstorm that he had to top off one of the air mattresses with more air. I didn’t think much of it until I woke up two hours after going to bed flat on the ground. We never could locate the leak in the mattress, so it is now... [Read more...]

Tips for Tent Camping In the Rain

It’s raining! And, we are camping! IN A TENT! I love the rain! And I try not to every let it slow us down.

We knew it might rain before we went to bed so we took a few precautions to ensure our comfort.

First tip for camping in the rain,

we made a good big doorstep in front our tent from a tarp. This was to help keep the mud down and give the kids plenty of room to take off their muddy shoes.

Second tip for camping in the rain,

we dug a trench all the way around our tent and doorstep. It is not a super deep mote, it is just deep enough to catch the water and direct it away from our tent. The trench goes all the way around our tent and at the lowest point it directs the water away from out tent.

Third tip for camping in the rain,

I lecture the children about not touching the tent walls or roof while it is raining. I don’t really understand the science behind it but for some reason touching the tent wall breaks an invisible natural seal and causes that spot to leak in some tents. (Every tent I ever had actually)

Now we have a nice dry space to spend the day in. A space that is small and cozy and small. Oh, I said small twice, imagine that.

How do you keep from going crazy stuck in a tent with two kids for hours?

There are lots of little games you can play. I always pack a deck of cards and some books and art supplies. For art supplies I don’t bring crayons because if they get left in the car on a hot day they tend to get messy. Colored pencils and washable markers are much neater. I am staying in a camping resort with wi-fi so we have the added comfort of the lap tops.

The rain is intermittent now so we can get out of our tent and enjoy this beautiful place and the lovely rainbow. Thankfully the campground has nice showers because the children love mud.

Tomorrow we will have the mud and the dampness to keep in mind when we pack up our tent. When I get caught with a w...

What I Learned From Our Backyard Tent Camping Test Run- Part 1

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May 25, 2010 by Donna Carol · 2 Comments

After many delays, we finally got to do a camping test run in our backyard. I don’t remember where I first read that a test run was a good idea, but I am so glad I read it. We learned a lot from this experience, and this is part 1 of our newfound knowledge.

Always check the weather forecast. A couple of days before the test run, I checked the weather forecast, and things looked great. I never checked it again, and that was a mistake. On the intended day of the test run, we set everything up, cooked dinner on our new Coleman grill, and had a wonderful dinner outside on the patio. I was keeping a list of things that would be convenient to have, but that I hadn’t thought of before we began “camping”. After dinner, we all went back in the house to tie up some loose ends and get the lights cut off before bed, when my husband said, “What was that flash of light?” As the words, “What light?” were coming out of my mouth, we heard thunder. I did a quick check of the weather online, and found out that our area was supposed to have thunderstorms all night and into the next morning. Much to our son’s dismay, we abandoned camping with plans to resume the next evening when the weather was supposed to be perfect. The thunderstorms taught me the second lesson:

Even tents that are zipped up can leak. I don’t know why I thought that because we put a tarp under our tent and zipped it up that there was no chance of water getting in the tent, but I was very wrong. The day after the storms, I asked Dennis to check on the tent to be sure nothing got wet. I wasn’t expecting anything to be wet – it was really just a precaution. He told me he looked in the tent, and everything looked fine. When we went to bed that night, I thought it seemed awfully humid inside the tent compared to outside the tent. Dennis was in bed, and I was still shuffling some things around when I noticed that underneath the pad our son was supposed to sleep on was soaking wet. I don’t mean damp. I mean a puddle. I am still not sure how the water went through the tarp under the tent onto the floor of the tent, but it did. In Dennis’ defense, he couldn’t see the puddle because the pad was on top of it.

Our tent is too small. Our tent is supposed to sleep 4-5 people, and that has been fine before because we only used sleeping bags. You might remember when I wrote about doing some research on cots. Well, I did the research, and I really wanted to get cots, but my husband vetoed them because of the price. We already owned two twin-sized air mattresses, and he said those would do for now. I had to agree that his was the most economical route, and that is what we adults planned to use. We had a sleeping pad we purchased for David to use. When we got both of the mattresses blown up for the test run, and put David’s sleeping pad in the tent, there was no room left for duffel bags to hold our clothes or anything else for...

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